Patrick Stewart Targets 'Bullsh*t' Coalition And Ed Miliband

"I have nothing but contempt for the expression 'we’re all in this together'. That’s bullshit – we’re not all in this together," he said of one of the coalition's favoured catchphrases.

"The members of the cabinet are not in the same position as the people who live near me in Bermondsey. What we have seen is not so much a response to a global crisis but Tory policies as usual, masquerading under the claim of necessity."

In an interview with the New Statesman, published on Thursday, the 71-year-old actor added: "I find the very fact of the coalition to be a cynical piece of manipulation."

Stewart, who has long supported the Labour Party but lent his backing to David Miliband in the Labour leadership campaign, also said Ed Miliband was doing well enough.

"I would like to see the [Labour] Party be more aggressive in its policies with regard to the recession and getting the economy stabilised," he said.

In a video produced during the leadership campaign Stewart said of the elder Miliband: "This was not a young, high flying politician whose ambition was to climb his way political ladder, this was a man who cared for his constituents, he felt his responsibility towards them."